Terminal strip



H. W. GOFF TERMINAL STRIP 7 Feb. s, 1938.

Filed Oct. 50, 1935 Patented Feb. 8, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TERMINAL STRIP Application October 30, 1935, Serial No. 47,389

4 Claims.

This invention relates to terminal strip devices such as used, for example, in telephone systems for connecting subscribers lines to so-called distributing frames from which connections are made to the switching apparatus.

The object of the invention is to improve the construction of such devices.

According to the invention a terminal strip of the character above mentioned is provided with a so-called fanning strip which is formed as by welding wire supports to a bar of the terminal strip structure. These wire supports are provided at their ends with portions bent to serve as means for holding the telephone wires in line with respect to associated ordinate rows of wire terminals and for protecting the installers from coming into contact with the terminals of the strip while affording means for securely attaching the free ends of telephone wires when they are disconnected from the terminals, as it is important to prevent them from coming into contact with exposed metal parts, the bent portions at the ends of the wire supports also effectively preventing the accidental breaking of the connections and the damaging of these terminals.

Other novel features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description and by the claims appended thereto, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation view of a terminal strip embodying the wire support of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the terminal strip partly in section;

Fig. 3 is a bottom View;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the wire support prior to its welding to the bar of the strip structure;

Fig. 5 is an end view of the terminal strip showing a modification of the wire support; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of such support prior to its welding to the supporting bar of the terminal strip.

The terminal strip to which the wire support of the invention is particularly well adapted for use generally consists of an inverted channelshaped bar l2 to the opposite ends of which are welded the upright extending flange members l3 and [4 shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5, each provided with a pair of lugs l5-l6 and l'I-l8, respectively, for securing the insulating plates l9 and 2B and a spacer member in the form of an insulating bar 2! by screws 22, the U-shaped supporting bar l2 serving as spacer for the insulating plates as and 20 at their lower disposed edges.

The insulating plates l9 and 23 are provided with horizontally disposed rows of rectangular openings R0 as shown in Fig. l for receiving the wire terminals WTI, WTZ, WT3 and WT4, serving for securing the telephone lines as TWI, Figs. 1 and 2, by soldered connections.

The edges of the parallel side of U-shaped supporting bar 12 are provided with registering grooves for readily locating the spaced relation of wire supports 38 where they are welded with their wire attaching portions 3! in oblique relation with respect to the coordinate rows of terminals W'll, WTZ, WT3 and WT4 as to position the center of these wire attaching portions substantially in iine with the ordinate rows of the terminals WTl, WT2, etc. as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The attaching portions 3! of wire supports 30 extend outwardly aconsiderable distance beyond the ends of the terminals WT4 of the terminal strip as to prevent the installers coming into contact with the bank and the consequent breaking of the soldered connections while providing a convenient arrangement for 2 attaching the telephone wires TW as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, i. e., between the loops LP and the abutting portions X-Xl when the telephone wires are temporarily disconnected from the ter minals WTI, WTZ, etc. abutting portions X and X! which extend at right angles with respect to the body portion of the wire support 3i), each serve as abutments against which the wire is held during its winding between that portion and the loop portion LP.

It is understood that minor changes may be made in the wire support of the invention without departing from the spirit of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a terminal strip unit, the combination with a metallic support having flanges secured at both ends thereof and plates of insulating material secured in parallel spaced relation on the flanges with terminals arranged in coordinate rows on the insulating plates, of a wire support associated with each ordinate terminal row in said plates and secured to the plate support, the ends of said wire supports extending beyond the ends of the terminals in the strip and their ends bent over the body portion of the supports to form abutting portions and substantially closed loop portions, the abutting portions extending at an angle with respect to the body portions of said wire supports.

on the strip. The

2. In a terminal strip unit, the combination with a metallic support and sets of terminals of difierent lengths insulatedly mounted on the support and having wire fastening portions, of a plurality of wire supports carried by said metallic support, one of said Wire supports for each set of terminals, a loop portion at each end of said wire supports and an abutting portion formed contiguous of each of said loops, the abutting portion extending at an angle with respect to the direction of said wire supports, the distance between two abutting portions of a wire support being substantially equal to the Wire attaching points of the longest terminal in the insulating support.

3. In a terminal strip unit, the combination with a support and sets of terminals, the terminals being arranged in rows on the support and having Wire fastening portions, a plurality of wire supports arranged in a row on the terminal support, one of said Wire supports for each of the terminal rows, each end of each of said Wire supports being shaped to form an abutting portion, a protecting loop portion and a neck portion, the neck portion serving for attaching a conductor to be secured to the fastening portion of one of the terminals in one of the rows.

4. In a terminal strip unit, the combination with a metallic supporting bar having flanges secured on both ends thereof and plates of insulating material secured to said flanges in parallel spaced relation, and rows of terminals supported by the insulating plates, of a plurality of wire supports secured to the metallic support in transverse relation thereto, one of said supports for each of said rows, said Wire supports having loop portions at their ends extending beyond the ends of the terminals in the strip for protection against the breakage of the terminals.

HAROLD W. GOFF. 

